observations and reflections of everyday life

I Create My Life

Have you ever heard of Sometime Isle? Neither had I until I attended a book signing and luncheon at a small cafe’ in Dorset, Minnesota. The author’s style wasn’t exactly my cup of tea, but her ardent fans clearly loved her story-telling and the God-fearing characters who lived on the plains.

I didn’t connect with the personalities she described from her stories and I was relieved when she moved from her books to her personal experiences because that meant the lecture was drawing to a close.

Suddenly I found myself listening and not daydreaming. She spoke of career, marriage, and motherhood; she revealed the dreams that had been tucked away with prayers that ended in “Sometime I’ll…”

She provided inspiration with her story of taking a risk, attending a writers conference on a whim, and becoming a published author after she turned fifty. I’ve often thought about that day and marveled at the fact that someone so different from me had such a big impact. She planted a seed that day and even I was unaware of it.

Creating your own life is about more than claiming your creativity and following your dreams. It’s also about growing up and taking responsibility for our lives and letting go of blame, excuses, and being brave enough to live our lives the way we want to and not the way others might expect us to.

I was raised during a time and age in which pursuing a practical curriculum followed by an equally practical and hopefully financially rewarding career may not have been expected, but it was encouraged. I attended college during one of the first times in history that a career for a woman was not perceived to be limited to a teacher, nurse, or wife.

Like most seventeen year olds I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and in 1979 anything in the Business College was the degree of choice for those of us without an obvious gift or burning passion.

I let societal expectations guide my choices instead of following my instincts and being true to myself. I don’t regret my choices. I am the mother of three of the most amazing young people I know and I can’t imagine my life without them.

Now the time has come to move off of Sometime Isle and create my own life the way I want it to be.